I think you were right about the LVC, coreman. I flew my box of batteries Sunday and it happened again when I tried my Thunder Power 1S 165mAh (this was one of the batteries I used last week when this happened). Although the charger indicates it is ready to go, the motor shuts down about 20 seconds into the flight. I was able to dead stick back to pavement with no damage. When I returned the throttle to zero and advanced it to attempt taxi, it worked for a few seconds and then cut off again. Dead 1S...
It was the most expensive 1S I've bought and it was the first to die.

it didn't HAVE to be the cause but I have seen it happen several times. The battery isn't dead, but it no longer is rated at 25C and so the voltage falls significantly when you tax it, causing LVC.

I think you were right about the LVC, coreman. I flew my box of batteries Sunday and it happened again when I tried my Thunder Power 1S 165mAh (this was one of the batteries I used last week when this happened). Although the charger indicates it is ready to go, the motor shuts down about 20 seconds into the flight. I was able to dead stick back to pavement with no damage. When I returned the throttle to zero and advanced it to attempt taxi, it worked for a few seconds and then cut off again. Dead 1S...
It was the most expensive 1S I've bought and it was the first to die.

While flying this afternoon, the polecat had a brownout (I'm using a dx6i) and went spinning straight into the dirt at full throttle. Both blades of the propeller broke off. The fuselage is broken on the top just behind the cowling. On the bottom it's broken just behind the motor mount. It's also broken just in front of the wings, and again just behind the wings. The whole plane has a sad, squishy, slinky feel when I hold it.

It's done this before, but never had such a brutal crash --- at least four or five times in the past, the ailerons have locked up and it's gone spinning to the ground. I always thought it was the aileron servo jamming, until today.

Today, the plane was headed directly at me, and was maybe only five feet away, when it locked into a spin. I immediately threw the throttle stick all the way down and started wiggling the aileron stick furiously. The plane kept rolling and, more importantly, the motor was still going full throttle when the plane hit the ground. That's why I'm convinced this was a brownout and not a servo lockup.

I guess I'm going to have to try and find a different flying site to determine if there's some interference causing my connection brownouts. I've always flown the Polecat in the same place, right next to a VERY large college apartment complex, where I can only assume there's a 2.4 gHz wireless router in every unit. Anybody think all those routers might be causing my problems?

While flying this afternoon, the polecat had a brownout (I'm using a dx6i) and went spinning straight into the dirt at full throttle. Both blades of the propeller broke off. The fuselage is broken on the top just behind the cowling. On the bottom it's broken just behind the motor mount. It's also broken just in front of the wings, and again just behind the wings. The whole plane has a sad, squishy, slinky feel when I hold it.

It's done this before, but never had such a brutal crash --- at least four or five times in the past, the ailerons have locked up and it's gone spinning to the ground. I always thought it was the aileron servo jamming, until today.

Today, the plane was headed directly at me, and was maybe only five feet away, when it locked into a spin. I immediately threw the throttle stick all the way down and started wiggling the aileron stick furiously. The plane kept rolling and, more importantly, the motor was still going full throttle when the plane hit the ground. That's why I'm convinced this was a brownout and not a servo lockup.

I guess I'm going to have to try and find a different flying site to determine if there's some interference causing my connection brownouts. I've always flown the Polecat in the same place, right next to a VERY large college apartment complex, where I can only assume there's a 2.4 gHz wireless router in every unit. Anybody think all those routers might be causing my problems?

This happened to me in a large open field several times, I tried replacing Rx, TX, nothing worked, so it is now lying in a landfill somewhere

This happened to me in a large open field several times, I tried replacing Rx, TX, nothing worked, so it is now lying in a landfill somewhere

Well, mine's been glued back together and it's flying again. Though the nose is more glue than foam now -- there's even a "window" of CA all the way through to the motor mount.

Lately I've been rebinding the plane every time I arrive at the local airfield. My superstition is that in the binding process, the tx and rx will select the best frequencies for the area that day. I'm told that's what happens anyway when they're powered up, but rebinding makes me feel like I'm doing something to help. In any case, I haven't had it lose connection again since that last time.

There is no need to stop posting in this thread. Its guts still provide you with the credentials.

Well.... I am still around....

But the Pole Cat's guts are dwindling down. I just replaced the aileron servo yesterday with a long-throw model. It means the only parts of the Pole Cat left are the aileron control horn, and some pieces of carbon in the tailfeathers, made out of the Pole Cat's control rods.

(This sort of "evolution" of one plane to another is how I get new planes without taking up more space in our small apartment. )

I hear you on the space thing. I have my planes and heli's all over the place. Space is not allowing anymore. I have had good luck with my micros lately, so I haven't had the option to get new stuff. I am sure it will happen soon though! I just jinxed myself there lol

I hear you on the space thing. I have my planes and heli's all over the place. Space is not allowing anymore. I have had good luck with my micros lately, so I haven't had the option to get new stuff. I am sure it will happen soon though! I just jinxed myself there lol

I hear you on the jinx. We were about 3 hours through our 4 hour indoor session yesterday and I was chatting with one of the guys and mentioned that we hadn't had any real midair carnage today and within 10 seconds the only two planes in the air came together and crashed. Boy did I get yelled at! Sort of like never ending a day by saying you will take "just one more flight" because that is almost always exactly what is left in the airframe.